Air NZ charging Aussies half the price

Flights on Air NZ can vary greatly depending on where in the world they are booked from.

Air New Zealand is charging premium New Zealand passengers up to double the price to fly to North and South America as their Australian counterparts. Research by MoneyHub, an independent site that reviews consumer products, found that travellers flying from Australia via Auckland on the airline will pay far less for the same flight if it was taken from New Zealand.

Newsroom compared flights booked on airnewzealand.co.nz and the airline’s Australian website and found several examples of the practice.

In one instance, a business class ticket on Air NZ from Sydney to Buenos Aires transiting through Auckland in June costs NZ$4347 when booked on airnewzealand.com.au, while a ticket on the same flight to Buenos Aires embarking in Auckland is $8365 on airnewzealand.co.nz.

“Thank goodness Air NZ is New Zealand owned and that extra profit comes back to us.”

Premium economy tickets also have similar markups, while economy tickets for both countries are similarly priced.

Air NZ competes with several other airlines on the Australia-Americas route but holds a monopoly on flights departing to the continents from New Zealand for most of the year.

Sue Chetwin, chief executive of Consumer NZ, was surprised at the price difference.

“I suspect that is to get more Aussies on it and they’ll argue that’s competition but I definitely think it is unfair, it is unfair because here it’s been billed to us as ‘hey, we’re opening up South America for you, here’s a direct flight’.”

Tim Hazledine, a professor at Auckland University’s business school, described the price gap as “very striking” but said he was not surprised.

Corporate travellers could often access cheaper fares through booking agencies and he noted that flights on Air NZ to London departing New Zealand on the same dates were cheaper than flights originating in Sydney.

“Those numbers are fairly extreme but they’re definitely real numbers. They have their reasons, I don’t think they’re asleep on this.

“Thank goodness Air NZ is New Zealand owned and that extra profit comes back to us.”

MoneyHub also highlighted location pricing practices of a different sort, with domestic flights priced up to five times higher depending on which country they were booked from.

A comparison of flight prices on airnewzealand.co.nz with those on the airline’s United Kingdom, Australian, and Singaporean sites revealed stark price differences.

For one Auckland to Queenstown return flight in June, the price when booked within New Zealand was NZ$188 compared to $494 if booked on airnewzealand.co.uk.